No single academic, corporate, governmental, or non-profit entity administers the activities of people on the Internet. The very existence and operation of the Internet stems from the fact that hundreds of thousands of separate operators of computers and computer networks independently use common data transfer protocols to exchange communications and information with other computers (which in turn exchange communications and information with still other computers). There is no centralized storage location, control point, or communications channel for the Internet, and it would not be technically feasible for a single entity to control all of the information conveyed on the Internet.
The explosive growth in popularity of the Internet over recent years is in large part based on the unrestricted communication medium it provides. The Internet has created a very low cost forum in which people can freely publish information, views and opinions. Ironically, it is the Internet's ability to empower its users with the free flow of information exchange that makes its users the most vulnerable. The ease, for example, in which a company can generate "buzz" about its new product or service through strategic postings in Internet message boards, chat rooms, and discussion forums, can just as easily be used by stock-manipulative, rumor-mongering, short-sellers to distribute false or misleading information about the company and its offerings.
Although Internet search-engines and directory services such as Alta Vista, Excite, Hotbot, Lycos, and Yahoo may be used to gather some of the information propagated around the Internet about a company and its products or services, these search entities generally maintain static databases that are updated infrequently relative to the dynamic information exchanges that transpire over the Internet on a daily basis.